Words We Couldn't Say
by T2 Angel
Summary: It was over. Pyramid was shut down. The pain was gone. Or... at least... it was supposed to be... What will be the personal repercussions for the deactivation of Pyramid for our heroes?


Okay, I don't what got into me with this one! I just started writing this a couple of days ago and I JUST finished it like a few minutes ago. This is rare for me because... guys, you have NO IDEA how long I go back to fix a fic before I post it. But, I thought, what the heck, I'd go for it this time. So, please give this one a read. It's from the HIGHLY UNDERRATED game "Enslaved - Odyssey to the West" (LOVE that game. Praying for a sequel). Enjoy!

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**Enslaved – Words We Couldn't Say**

It was done.

It was over.

The fight, the struggle was over.

Pyramid was shut down.

The war was won.

The pain was gone.

At least… it was supposed to be.

Tripitaka was still breathing hard as Monkey held her arms, her whole body shaking.

"Did I do the right thing?"

She kept asking that question. It had been a solid ten minutes of her searching the wastelander's eyes for his answer. Thing was… he didn't have one.

Monkey could hear the rumblings of the people down below in the holding areas for those lost in Pyramid's fantasy world. He wasn't sure how they would react when they found what he and Trip had done but he didn't want to wait around to find out either. "C'mon. We gotta go."

She stared at him, offended. She got upset. "Go? Go where?"

He didn't want this argument. "Doesn't matter. C'mon!" He physically forced her to her feet and led her out of the mechanical structure, leaving the confused and angry masses behind.

With Monkey carrying Trip on his back, they didn't stop moving for a couple of days, continually headed West. Monkey wasn't sure why he was still heading that way; it just seemed to make sense, like they were supposed to go that way. They soon made it a forest, an actual, honest to God forest. Monkey hadn't seen one in so many years that he didn't believe it was real at first, at least not one that didn't have a lot of mechs or battle damage. He stared at how beautiful it was, hoping to get a response from Trip but her mind was elsewhere. She was despondent, so detached from the world since leaving Pyramid. Her catatonic state had no bearing on Monkey's movements. He wanted to make sure he had a good distance between them and Pyramid and all those who might be upset with them.

Monkey stopped when they came to a river. The water was so clear that he couldn't believe it. He could see right to the riverbed but he could also see his own reflection. He put Trip down and she just walked to the edge of the river and stared. He looked at her concerned. But he decided to do his best to break the tension. An action he couldn't believe he was doing even while he was doing it. "What about this river, right? There must've never been any mechs here."

She remained silent.

"I mean, this whole place musta never saw any fighting or any of the war at all. Almost impossible."

Still, she said nothing.

He just shook his head. "Will ya stop? You're starting to freak me out."

She groaned, disgusted, "Shut up…"

"What?"

She turned and looked at him. "I said shut up!"

That came out of nowhere. "Whoa! What the hell? What did I do?"

"You're trying to act like things are okay! What part of this is okay? Any of it?"

"Hey, calm down, will ya?"

"No! I'm going to calm down! This… this all just messed up!"

"And you're not going to get anything done by screaming about it!"

"Just shut up! Did I say I wanted you to take me out of there? Did I say I needed you to rescue me?"

"Yeah, ya did!" He pointed to the no longer active headband.

"To get me there! I didn't need you to take me away!"

Her logic was insane and, considering she always had a plan, this was downright unheard of from Trip. "What? You wanted to stay there? Get ripped apart by those people? I guarantee ya, they weren't gonna be happy!"

"Who cares! You don't get to make every decision for me!"

Monkey put his hands toward his head, trying to comprehend what was happening right now. "I don't get why you're so mad!"

"Because you don't think!"

He was struggling to find words or understand what the hell was going on. "WHERE! Is all this coming from?"

She groaned. "Just forget it! You don't get it! You never will! You couldn't possibly get it anyway!" She stormed off.

Monkey watched her walk away. Blindsided was an understatement for how he was feeling. He held his arms out, trying to comprehend what she just said. He sighed and sat on the grass. "What the hell was that about?"

Trip walked far away from Monkey, she couldn't even see him anymore. Though this forest seemed clear of mechs, and that threat seemed to be a non-threat now, this was still dangerous for her to go around by herself. But she didn't care. She was angry and mad…

…and wrong for what she just did. And she knew it, completely.

What was worse… she had no idea, whatsoever, why she just screamed at him.

She stopped shortly after could no longer see Monkey anymore, leaning against a very old tree. She kept her eyes fixed to the ground, just trying to put her own mind back together. She slid down the tree, sitting on the grass. She pulled her knees up under chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.

She stayed there for hours. The sun had gone down and the stars were just starting to come out. Trip looked up at the sky, looking at the lights dance against the black purple velvet backdrop. She wrapped her arms around herself, quietly letting tears fall from her eyes. She bowed her head, weeping bitterly. She realized why she yelled. It was the same reason she was crying now…

…it was all she could do.

In truth, she wanted to thank Monkey, commend him for absolutely everything he's done for her. But, the loss everything else came up first. All that pain that she was forcing down just boiled over. Before, she used it to focus on Pyramid but… once that was gone, all she could do was get angry. Get angry at what had happened. After all, she had nothing left. She lost it all. Her father, her village, Pigsy… everything she had was gone.

…A moment of clarity struck…

She hadn't lost everything…

There was one person she had left.

She ran back to where she left Monkey, praying that she didn't decide to ditch her. There was nothing keeping him from that now.

Monkey was sitting by the river, staring at a fire that he started. Night didn't hold the same meaning for him as it you used to. It used to mean to constantly be on guard for mechs striking to strike at night but, now… it left him time to think.

Plenty of time to think.

Nothing but time.

Too much time.

And all he could focus on was the girl who just screamed at him for saving her life. Before meeting Trip, her telling him to shut up would've been enough to make him leave and never think about her again.

That was nowhere near the case this time.

He was worried sick about Trip. He was hoping she was okay where she was, wanted to know what set her off like that, what he'd done to make her mad… and hope he could fix it. He wanted to go search for her but he thought it best to leave her alone. With the mechs deactivated, there was almost no threat to either of them out here.

But he was worried sick anyway.

And he didn't know why.

No… that was a lie.

He knew exactly why. And it was more than just worrying about why she was angry. He'd known why ever since that night inside the Leviathan's core room. Hell, he'd known before then. A long while before then.

It was so much more he wanted to say to her that night after "Turn it back on." But he couldn't. He wished to heaven that he could… but he couldn't.

'_Dammit…_'

Most of the time, actually all of the time, his tough nature was a benefit. This was the only time in his life that it actually worked against him. And he prayed, actually prayed, he'd get the chance to get it right.

He heard the grass rustle nearby, too quiet for a mech and just light enough for a person.

He looked up.

Trip was staring right at him.

Her mouth was agape.

He didn't realize it but so was his.

They both were frozen, trying to find the right words to say.

"H… Hi…" Trip finally managed to say.

"Uh…" Monkey cleared his throat. "Hey…"

"Mind if I… sit down?"

"Sure."

She sat on the other side of the flames. "It's… been a long time… since we've been like this."

He nodded, "Y… yeah…"

They sat in an awkward silence for several minutes. It made Trip nervous and Monkey mildly frustrated and vastly confused. The redheaded tech genius wasn't sure if apologizing would mean anything, this was Monkey after all. But she had to; she couldn't lose him, too. Not she would blame him if he decided to take off. The bigger surprise was he was still here.

On the other hand, the muscled-up wastelander wasn't sure if he should say anything. He didn't want to make her mad. He didn't want her to leave. He wasn't afraid of being alone. He didn't want _her_ to leave.

That was the most important issue for them both: they didn't want the other to leave.

Just when they both the courage to say something, they spoke at the same time. "Listen…"

They both sighed.

"Uh… you first," Monkey insisted.

"No, no," Trip shook her head. "I'm sorry. Go ahead."

"Ya sure?"

"Yeah… please. After my… meltdown… you've definitely earned the right to go first. So… please… I want you to."

"Alright." He sighed. "Look, Trip… I'm sorry. I mean, honestly, I really don't know what I did… or how I screwed this up but, for whatever I did… I'm sorry."

She was shocked that he was the one apologizing. She couldn't let him keep believing he did something wrong. "No, no, Monkey… I'm sorry." She sighed, "This is all my fault. You didn't do anything…"

"So… what's going on? Why'd you blow up like that?"

"I… It's just…" She started to tear up. She had no idea where the tears were coming from. Then she realized. "I-I just…" She sighed then whispered, "…it's all gone…"

"What is?"

"Everything… everything's gone… everything… everyone that I had on this planet… in this life… it's… dead… burned… buried… destroyed…"

Monkey understood that. Better than most.

"Dad… my village… Mom… Mark… all my friends… Pigsy… everything… gone…"

He sat silently.

"But… none of that is your fault. Not one bit of it. If anything… the only thing… you've been the only thing I've been able to hold on to in all of this. You've done… nothing but help me since we met…" She stopped. "The only person I still have…" She stopped again. "And… I… I-I yelled at your for that…" She spoke with the tone of disbelief that those words came from her, "I blamed you." She looked at the fire, angry with herself. "Why? Why in hell did I do that? What the hell is wrong with me?" She fell quiet. She looked up at Monkey. "I should never have done that. Y-yelled at you, I mean."

He shook his head, "It's okay."

"No, it's not." The tears were falling now and she didn't care. "You're the last person I have… and I treated you like it's your fault everyone else is gone. I almost lost you. I should've lost you. You should've left. You should've left me out here. You'd be just fine without me… better off… without me."

He was still silent. He stood up. She worried that he was about to leave. She avoided looking at him.

He walked…

…around the fire…

…to her.

He sat next to her. He put his arm around her.

She gasped at the gesture and looked into his big blue eyes. She couldn't tell if it was her tears, the dark of the night with the fire reflecting, or what it was but his eyes never looked brighter… or more caring. Even more than in the core room.

"There's no way in hell… I'd be better off without you."

She sniffed. Tears were still rolling.

"I didn't have a life before all this, Trip. Not really. I just kept moving. I had nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Just live. You were the first person to ask me my name in forever. And you were the first person in forever who treated me like a person." He thought about it. "First one who actually wanted me around."

She flashed a smile. "Wouldn't have made it without you."

"I can honestly tell ya… that's true for me, too."

She looked at him surprised.

"Trip… I get why you're mad. Hell, I'd be, too. When it feels like everything sucks, and okay, maybe it does, I get you wanna leave… and, whoever nearest to you, tends to be to blame for all the hell. I think that's why a lot of communities tended to treat me like crap. I was there and they didn't know me and life does suck." He shrugged slightly. "Not the point, though. They didn't matter to me… you do."

She was stunned to hear that. But it was a welcome revelation.

"I get that you're mad and, if you need a target, I'm right here. But… and I'm sorry if this is wrong… I don't want you to leave. I…" He groaned. "I really don't."

She just stared into his eyes. Good God, they were amazing to look at. "You… you mean that?"

He nodded.

She took a second before speaking. "I never… never did say thank you."

"What for?"

"Everything. It's what I really wanted to say… not blow up at you for things you had no control over. When I wanted to say thank you… I couldn't… all that pain was… it was just in the way."

"I know a little something about that."

"Hmm?"

"I couldn't say thank you, either."

"For what?"

"Showing me how to hope. Showing me that are things worth going the distance for. That are things worth fighting for. That staying alive… isn't as good as it gets." He chuckled. "That having a friend ain't so bad after all."

She laughed.

"So… thank you, Trip. For everything."

"Thank you… for everything."

He scoffed. He gave her a warm smile. "No problem."

An impulse came over her. She didn't know where from. She couldn't tell what it was but she could tell what it wanted her to do. She almost couldn't control herself. She slowly moved up, not sure if she would be allowed to, but she inched closer to Monkey's face. He saw her movement and he had no intention whatsoever of stopping her. She almost couldn't believe it.

But she wasn't going to stop, either.

She pressed her lips to his.

It felt… indescribable.

It was the realest thing Trip felt… had felt in what seemed like forever. She closed her eyes, savoring every second moment.

Monkey's eyes were closed, as well. Truth be told, this was the first time he'd ever kissed anyone. He didn't believe in getting that attached to anyone… until Trip came along, that is.

Trip broke the kiss, backing away but not too far. "Sorry…"

"Don't be."

"Not… just for that. For… everything… I dragged you into this and…"

"It was worth it," he interrupted. "No matter what, it was always worth it. And I'd never change a thing."

The next words almost flew out of her mouth but Trip suppressed them. But she soon found that they would not be kept down. Her mouth opened to speak. She almost whispered, afraid to say what she felt for fear of what would be the result. But her heart would not be denied. "I… I love you…"

He was surprised, but is face only mildly revealed that.

"I know… I know I shouldn't say it… but… I don't care. I don't care if you don't feel the same way or didn't want to hear it… I just… I just can't let another second go by and not say it. You've been the only thing… that's kept me sane. Kept me going. When I wanted to give up… you never let me. You say I taught you how to hope… you taught not to give up on it." She sighed. "I love you. With… with whatever's left of me… I love you."

He was quiet for a long while, just staring at her. Wasn't hard for him to see that she meant that, it was hard to know that anyone could love him. He wasn't used to it. He was used to not caring, to ignoring, to people despising then forgetting him in almost the same breath. And he was fine with that… when it came to everybody but Trip.

In a most unexpected move, especially to the redhead, Monkey cupped her chin with his massive hand. He stared right into those emerald green eyes of hers and spoke confidently, "I love you, too, Trip."

She sighed. She threw her arms around his neck as she fell into him, "Oh, Monkey…"

He put his arms around her and held her close. "Just stop running off by yourself. I worry about you enough as it is."

She chuckled. "Right."

This wasn't what either of them expected to happen, not at all. But, once it happened, they realized they both wanted it. They needed it. They needed each other. They didn't know what was going to happen next but, right now, they didn't care. Tomorrow would come and they would worry then. But tonight, they just wanted to enjoy being alive… and with each other.

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And there you have it! So, what'd you guys think? Please, comment! Let me know what's on your minds! I love to hear from all of you! See you soon!


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